Strategic issues and options for the quadrennial defense review

Abstract : As the Department of Defense conducts its first Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), it will wish to examine a range of strategic options. The purpose in doing so is not so much to identify clear-cut alternatives, and then to choose one in pure form, but rather to consider some dramatized issues and choices as part of preparing for the synthesis of actual Department of Defense (DoD) strategy. This briefing is our attempt to assist in that process. As described elsewhere, we recommend a management approach to defense planning. In this framework, DoD's investments are seen as contributing to a portfolio of activities (Figure S.1), the elements of which are (1) maintaining and improving capabilities for diverse military contingencies, both large and small; (2) shaping the international environment in the three principal regions of concern (Europe, the Greater Middle East and East Asia); and (3) assuring strategic adaptiveness so that the United States can in the future change the size, character, geographical focus, and posture of its forces readily in response to whatever technical or geopolitical challenges emerge.